Jo Joo-hyeon, The Beautiful Korean Stuntwoman and Female Fighter

This obscure and sadly forgotten southkorean crime-action-comedy was surprisingly good and even better when i saw
it for the second time. It's a vehicle for the great stuntwoman Jo Joo-hyeon made, i think, by her husband (?) the martial
arts man Kim Choon-sik. She plays the role of the really TOUGH police detective Ha, a female Dirty Harry and she's
constantly grumpy and very prone to use violence whenever she can, her specialty's to kick men in their groins whenever
they displease her. Ouch. Mr. Kim, you really did some things right here and in a perfect world Joo-hyun your gorgeous
wife should've been a female action martial arts hero.
The films comic relief, the two jailbird buddies played by Lee Gwang-il and Park Tae-seong worked just fine as well and
the wild hunt for the brief-case with the stuff was quite fun to watch too.

OK, i admit it, i'm a pervert and a Sick Puppy, so what, but i really LOVE to see bossy women on film and Jo Joo-hyeon
is INSANELY sexy as the grumpy police detective Ha Su-in.

Detective Ha knows how to handle troublesome and annoying men

Lady Fury in action

The Story:

A Chinese gangster has stolen a brief-case filled with drugs and worth a fortune (on the street) from his Triad boss
and fled to Seoul with the loot and with an idea of selling it there to the highest bidder/korean drug lord.
But, his chinese boss has sent an expert hitman knife killer Double B (Lee Do-hyeon) after him. Watching the
criminals is the Seoul Crime Squad with the Beating Woman, and detective Ha's coupled with the rookie cop Oh
Bo-ra (Jeon Se-hong). Ha Su-in likes No things soft and frilly and she wears military clothing with combat boots
and she's filled with RAGE against criminals and men that irritates her. Ha's background is presented very briefly
in the film (maybe scenes were cut) but obviously her child was killed by criminals.

In a side story we get to meet the jailbird and childhood buddies Ho-dong (Lee Gwang-il) and Sang-pal (Park Tae-
song) who's just been released from jail. They're no big criminals at all and really nice guys but without any money
and a place to stay, so they start drifting in the streets of Seoul. At first, i thought their antics to be really annoying
BUT after a while, strangely (as i normally hates comic-relief guys in films) i did start to like them. They're good
and a buddy couple that works well and they do know how to fight pretty well too. Never heard of them though.

In For the Kill

The Chinese gangster tries to sell the stuff to Seoul drug lord Snake (Seo Beom-sik) but he has other plans as he
wants the drugs for free. Accidently Ho-dong and Sang-pal gets the possession over the brief-case and much fun
chaos enfolds when they try to keep that possession from Snakes goons and finally to try selling it in Busan.
The Nightclub (whorehouse?) hostesses scene was funny when Ha has to go undercover dressed sluttily and then
furious, what else, teaches her "clients/customers" to behave correctly after a man grabbed her breast.
Also, in the Big ending fight in Busan we finally get to see Jo Joo-hyeon martial arts prowess when she takes on a
horde of goons with some delightful taekwondo moves.

Otherwise the fighting in the film is more of the gritty streetfighting type than in the elegant martial arts film style, and
i like to see this shorter realistic fights too. There's comedy and a happy ending where detective Ha shows that she's
got a heart of gold under her harsh (but sexy) surface when's she's acting as the guys guardian angel. Totally OK
with a happy end as these 2 unfortunates really deserved some luck coming their way.

My ending thoughts:

Maybe i'm the only person in the world who liked this little (and delightfully unpretentious) B movie as much as i did.
Maybe i'm the only person in the world besides obviously the director Kim Choon-sik that's in love with Jo Joo-hyun.
I really liked her and her charisma, she's a stunning woman and i very much want to see her again, i do. To see her
again on film kicking her way through the streets of Seoul and the jo-pok underworld.
But, i'm pretty sure that won't happen so - thanks anyway to all great people involved with this fun film

.....................................................................................................

Text below written 2013-04-24 (when i watched the film for the 1st time)

.....................................................................................................

Who and what is this? Well, the movie The Beating Woman a.k.a Lady Furious is (at the moment) a totally obscure
south korean crime-action movie where the stuntwoman and martial arts expert Jo Joo-hyeon or Jo Ju-hyeon or
Cho Joo-hyun (there's no exact way of spelling korean names the western way, i think ... ?) has got the main role.
Everyone that has followed my site earlier through the years surely know by now that i just love to see Female
Fighters on film. When i, during the long draught that has struck this type of genre films, then gets to see a korean
DVD with a tough female cop on the sleeve and after googling on the actress name finds an old photo from some
martial arts exhibition (se pic below) - i took the bait, hook, line and sinker.

But, i haven't found a lot of information about her, only that she's born in 1969 and is a pioneer as a stuntwoman in
South Korea. Apparently she has been in lots and lots of films (also in a Kim Je-woon movie) and in TV, and this
film has been directed and written by the martial arts choreographer Kim Choon-sik who also seems to be her
husband (?). This lovely woman is 40 + today but i still hope to see her kicking on the film screen again in the future.
There are not many reviews of this film to be found on the Net but the few there is are quite positive. This film is a
great and enjoyable crime-action with comic elements in it.

..........

Above left: The Lovely Jo Joo-hyeon as detective Ha, and at right showing her skills

This B crime-action was released on DVD in South Korea in march 2013 and was supposedly shown in the cinemas
during late autumn 2012 (and then probably for a very short time in the smallest salon in the smallest multiplex theatre)
but the production started as early as 2010. I haven't found any production info at all but maybe the producers didn't
get what they expected, maybe they thought Jo couldn't act (i love her, but that's me) ??

Well, anyway it's very sympathetic to give a stuntwoman and a martial arts expert the chance to act as the star in her
OWN film, and that in a genre - Female Fighting, that, with some exception as the Thai tries with Jeeja Yanin (Chocolate
was great) has been extinct since the Golden Era of Cynthia Rothrock and Michelle Yeoh that ended 20 years ago.
Tarantino also made a film with stunt legend Zoe Bell in his Grindhouse homage, and Steven Soderberg in 2011 with
Haywire and the great MMA fighter Gina Carano.

As i said, i don't know what went wrong ... if anything, with this film production? Maybe, if you got an expert at martial
arts and taekwondo to use you should make the fight scenes better with choreography were we get to see Jo Joo-hyun's
movements better. Maybe korean legend Jung Doo-hong or why not Thai ditto legend Panna Rittikrai (R.I.P.) could've
helped with the choreography in the fight scenes, so we really could've enjoyed her agility to the fullest.

Well, for me Jo Joo-hyeon was charismatic as angry detective Ha, who dressed in military gear crouch-kicks her way
through the jo-pok underworld. The last 30 minutes we also, finally, gets to see some martial arts fighting were she
takes on a horde of underlings. She specially seems to enjoy punishing cocky men by kicking them in the crouch, ouch!

................................... Jo Joo-hyeon ...................................

Jo Joo-hyeon och Jeon Se-hong

The Lovely Jo is flexing her muscles

I'm sorry if i come through as a Pervert here, but i do think it's sexy seeing strong women fighting in films,
and Jo's tough as nails detective Ha Su-in was ..... eeh, memorable, even though she doesn't reach The
Cynthia's unreachable effort as the female cop "Nasty White Chick" in the classic Yes, Madam! from 1985.
Jo Joo-hyun was 40 + (42 years old) when she got the role in this obscure film that most probably sunk into
a black hole in a distant galaxy and i sadly presume that we never will see her in a sequel.

So, this whole page about the film Lady Furious - The Beating Woman is my Homage to the Great Stunt-
Woman Jo Joo-hyeon.

The film is a mix of crime-action and comedy with 2 story sidelines that crosses and finally unite. One about
the Seoul police and their surveillance unit with detective Ha and one about 2 newly released from jail buddies
with a penchant for comedy. At first they're annoying but after a while you start to like them oddly enough.

No, no filmteam in the reflections

The B .... Eating Woman (yes, she's sexy when she eats too)

The Plot:

A Chinese Triad member has stolen a case full of narcotics from his own organization and then fled to Seoul, and
he plans to sell the stuff there to the highest bidder. At the same time 2 small-time criminals are released from a 3
year stint in jail, Sang-pal and Ho-dong, and soon their ways will intersect with both the drugs and with detective
Ha Su-in of the Seoul Police Crime Branch. And she's really a sight to behold, wow!

Ha (Jo Joo-hyeon) is dressed in a long military mens coat, military boots and wears black glasses. She's constantly
pissed off about something and she really, really know how to fight. She's aided by a young female rookie cop OH
(Jeon Se-hong) and then ..... eeeh, sorry, i often lost my concentration because i was just staring at Jo Joo-hyeon
whenever she was in the frame (Sexy as Hell). But, at the end of the movie in the big fight she finally was allowed
to display her abilities in the martial arts field and it seems taekwondo is her specialty with some delightful kicks.
There's no action choreography á la Hong Kong martial arts or Panna Rittikrai and the fights are short and gritty
instead with maybe a more realistic look to it, streetfighting type. Sure, it would've been great if one could've seen
a little bit more of her agility and her kicks, but, maybe in her next film, maybe ....

The DVD was in anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1 with korean sound 2.0 with english subs and only a trailer as extra